Major Mohammad al-Khlaifat

Major Mohammad al-Khlaifat has striven to eliminate human trafficking in Jordan by leading the Public Security Directorate’s Counter Trafficking Unit (CTU), a police unit with embedded Ministry of Labor and Ministry of Health (MOH) personnel, and also by proactively identifying and supporting trafficking victims.

Since becoming acting head of the CTU in July 2020, Major Khlaifat has led efforts to strengthen cooperation between Jordanian government agencies, civil society, and international NGOs.  He initiated new ways to collaborate with the Ministry of Social Development and the Jordanian Women’s Union (a women’s shelter NGO) to ensure trafficking victims received responsive and equitable protection and support services. He also coordinated between the Public Security Directorate and Ministry of Justice to launch a new case management system that improved collaboration between investigators and prosecutors.

Major Khlaifat formalized information-sharing efforts between the CTU and the Public Security Directorate’s Vice Unit, which generated a third of the CTU’s trafficking cases in 2021.  He leveraged relationships gained from a prior assignment as an air marshal to reach a formal agreement between the CTU and Civil Aviation Regulatory Authority that increased screening for potential trafficking victims at Jordan’s airports.  He also guided police liaisons in refugee camps to screen for trafficking indicators.  To continue operations under pandemic conditions, he deployed COVID-19 tests with the MOH to allow CTU officers to safely address the needs of victims. Major Khlaifat has proven instrumental in collaborating with partners, including the U.S. government, to combat human trafficking.